Thursday, 28 March 2013

I am part horrified part fascinated by the state of the global economy. I am constantly looking for someone - anyone - to clarify how we got here. Whoops! has to be the best clarification to date. It isn't pretty - more like depressing with a gloomy ending - but, as they say, knowledge is power and maybe what is needed is for more of us 'mere mortals' to grasp just to what extent the financial sector f*cked things up for everyone - and it is colossal - and say 'no more!' Because governments aren't willing to and so it could happen again.

It turns out there were numerous contributing factors over many years and it started with the fall of the Berlin Wall - an interesting theory I haven't heard before, but makes sense. Then there was globalisation which led to almost everything being made in China, making China wealthier than ever, leading to China using that wealth to invest heavily in the US economy. The UK went from a country that produced stuff as well as services to one that produces almost nothing and only provides services, the biggest market being financial services, on which it is now dependent.

I did get lost by some of the explanations, such as the point of mortgage backed securities and the concept of risk management in banking (which is unlike any other kind), but I grasped enough to get why they were major contributing factors to the meltdown and subsequent credit crunch.

Lanchester made an interesting point with regard to blame, an opinion I have held ever since 2008 but hardly ever hear or read in the media, which is: as much as bankers and governments who failed to regulate them are responsible, so are the collective 'we'. From our obsession with owning property and getting excited as the value continued to go up (into infinity and beyond?) to our gorging on credit to finance everything from our luxury holidays to our must-have Mulberry handbags.

In the western world whenever there is a major incident that affects the lives of the people, such as a major accident rendering it a health and safety danger, human rights abuse, or terrorism, that country's government tends to step in and create laws to (a) protect its citizens and (b) ensure said incident doesn't happen again. What I learned from this book is for the first time governments (and I mean UK and US in particular) aren't prepared to step in. Why? Because the banks are 'too big to fail' and they are too powerful for governments to mess with. So the result is 'we', as in the tax payer, will just have to keep on paying for the reckless behaviour of the banking sector (into infinity and beyond?).

Not wishing to alarm anyone but, unless something is done, the financial crisis affecting the west could be the making of a future one reads about in post-apocalyptic dystopian novels, if you ask me.

Friday, 22 March 2013

Sweetest Taboo is told from the POV of Isabel
Cruz, the female protagonist who, at 15, meets and falls in love with one
of her high school teachers, Mr Stevens - a married man with 2
daughters in his late 30s. Isabel soon discovers that the feelings are
mutual, as Mr Stevens makes moves, which become bolder and more
frequent, in her direction, sending out signals that this is the case.
They start to communicate when he suggests to her that she should write
him a letter telling him how she feels. Isabel writes the letter,
holding nothing back, after which they begin their illicit affair.

I discovered this novel via an R2R (read to review) in a group on Goodreads. I chose to take part because I was intrigued by the controversial subject. I could see one of two
possible approaches to the topic. (1) Make it a controversial love
story or (2) Make it a cautionary tale. I have no problem with either
and I went in with an open mind, not wanting to make moral judgements.
The book starts with a prologue (which, by the way, reads more like a
preface) explaining that the novel is a work of fiction based on a true
story, and implies that the approach taken is option (1) a controversial
love story.

Although I have little doubt that Isabel was in love with
Mr Stevens, I was not convinced that Mr Stevens was in love with Isabel.
Surely, love isn’t just about ‘chemistry’, physical attraction, hearts
skipping-a-beat and all that stuff. Surely, love is also about simply
wishing that person well, caring about that person’s well-being, putting
their needs before your own. Isabel was a young and naïve teenage
girl. Mr Stevens was a mature experienced man in a responsible
position. I get that sometimes people fall in love under difficult
circumstances and they have no control over their feelings. I get that
they find themselves torn and tempted and this can be frustrating beyond
belief. However, we all have free will and we can CONTROL our
behaviour. It’s not easy, it takes restraint and strength, but it can
be done. And yet consideration of the consequences barely came up for
either of these two (although I consider Isabel to be blameless). Not
once did I get the impression that Mr Stevens was conflicted, that he
was concerned about the consequences of the affair for Isabel, for his
wife or for his children. He did constantly tell Isabel about the
consequences for HIM (the risk of HIM losing his job, HIM losing his
family, HIM going to prison) and the implication was that she should be
grateful that he was willing to take the risk for her – which of course
she was.

As you can probably tell I had a problem with this one and here it is: In my opinion, for this to be a convincing love story,
it needed both characters to be sympathetic and Mr Stevens was not.
Instead, quite frankly, he came across as a creepy, predatory,
inconsiderate and above all SELFISH scumbag from start to end. A prime example is when Isabel gets a ticket for illegally parking outside of Mr Stevens' house (see below) and Mr Stevens insists he'll take care of it but doesn't, which lands her in trouble. Also,
since this is a love story, is some romance too much to ask for? There
were plenty of meetings in classrooms and dark rooms and in trucks where
these two lovers could kiss and fondle each other. Did they ever take
the time to get to know each other? To just talk? There is no evidence of this in the novel - okay, Mr Stevens
allowed some conversation on the sofa the first time Isabel came to the
house when his wife and kids were away before they got down to business.
The next visit she barely gets past the threshold before he says “Are
you ready for bed?” My point being: for a romantic novel this book seriously lacked romance.

If this had been a cautionary tale that ended
as such situations usually do, it would have worked.
As a controversial love story however, for me, it is fundamentally flawed because there is a lack of EVIDENCE to show that the male protagonist,
Mr Stevens, was truly ‘in love’ with Isabel. Instead his behaviour
suggested that he was a man approaching a certain age who was bored and
not happy with his lot. He wanted (maybe even needed) a distraction
from his miserable life and Isabel just happened to be there.

On a
positive note: Full marks for originality: the subject was a good one
and well worth tackling. Both the male and female protagonists as
characters are realistically portrayed and therefore believable – very
well done indeed! I liked Isabel. She was strong and smart – a true
heroine. I liked the stuff about her family and would have liked to
have had more about them in the book. I liked the title of the book and
the chapter titles. It was clever to use love song titles in that way (it would have been even better if it was meant to be ironic - but apparently not).
I liked the book cover, very apt and very pretty.

In fairness to the author, this novel has done very well. It has had mixed reviews on Goodreads but a lot of readers loved it and it was runner up for a few prizes, including quarter finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough 2012 award, so well done to her for that. I would be interested to read more from Eva Márquez in future - She definitely has potential... and I might even like the next one.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Since writing this review I have learned that there is a sequel. It's called "Tainted Love" and, from what I gather, this time it is from Mr Stevens' POV. Like the song says, ...I feel I've got to .. run away, I've got to .. get away ..

Thursday, 21 March 2013

Book covers like this one put me off.I don’t like them because they scream ‘Hey little girlie, you know you
want me.How could you not?After all, I’m pink and I’ve got a big red
heart. Buy me!’However, Jacqueline
Wilson is an author who is well regarded and despite never having read any of
her books I was interested in the subject – teacher/pupil relationship – and I
wanted to see how she tackled it.

I am not sure what age the book is meant to be for.The subject matter suggests young adult but it
reads as though it is for the under 12s.(I suspect teenagers would find it somewhat patronising and in parts
eye-rollingly ridiculous.)

I would divide this novel into 2 parts with the distribution of those
parts at 60:40.The first 60% is about Prue,
her family life and how she comes to be stuck in a school she hates (and quite
rightly so under the circumstances).The
last 40% focuses on her relationship with her art teacher, Rax, who she falls
in love with.

I can see the point of the first part as it is Prue’s backstory and it
clarifies why she is the way she is and how she came to behave the way she
did.All that was fine but there was too
much of it.The book was supposed to be
about her relationship with her teacher and there wasn’t enough of that.

Also, I can appreciate that there are probably parents like Prue’s that
exist in the real world but I found the whole situation too extreme – verging
on the ridiculous.I am not keen on
novels that exaggerate characters because instead of being realistic they are
like caricatures, which only work in comedic situations as far as I am
concerned. In the same way scenarios become too animated.

Spoiler Alert: I was okay with the portrayal of the father, but the
mother?Would she really think it
acceptable in the 21st century to dress her 11 and 14 year old in homemade
dolly style dresses?Second hand stuff
from charity shops would have been more realistic and just as effective,
surely.And the sister Grace who is
somewhat overweight - would she really not only be happy to be referred to by
her school friends as ‘Piggy’ but be the one to suggest it? And the school
girls – would they really pick on another girl because she deigns to wear sexy
underwear, calling her a slag and referring to Ann Summers as a sleazy shop to
be avoided?If they were in a prissy
convent school in the 1950s, maybe.And
Tobie – would he really react to an erotic novel in that way?Next she’ll be suggesting he’s never heard of
NUTs magazine.And how is it the
teachers all stood by and watched as practically every pupil who came into
contact with Prue insulted and bullied her – even Rax!Like it’s perfectly acceptable behaviour!

What I think Wilson did well – very well – was the relationship between
Rax and Prue, when we finally get to it.I found it realistic and could see how things could play out exactly as
they did.

Spoiler Alert:Rax steps closely to the line, and yes he crosses
it.I was convinced that he genuinely
fell for Prue, but his behaviour was neither pervy nor predatory nor was he
manipulative (as is the case with the teacher in other books of a similar theme).I am not condoning his actions but I can see he was torn between his
feelings for her and doing the right thing and sometimes this caused him to
make the wrong choices.

Some have criticized Wilson, accusing her of being irresponsible for portraying the
relationship as she did. I disagree. After all, things do not bode well
for Prue – not at all – to the point that it leaves a nasty after-taste (for me
anyway).Of course time is a healer and
she would move on eventually, just like Rax said, but not before suffering a
great deal first. If anything it is like she is saying to girls, if you do this, this
is what will happen – which I think is pretty responsible.Unfortunately I think there is a danger for
the message to be misinterpreted as the complete opposite and therefore
lost.

Sunday, 17 March 2013

On the surface Halfskin is a science fiction novel set in an
alternate reality where nanotechnology has advanced to the point where it is
being used to create man-made stem cells (biomites) that can be used to not
only heal the body but enhance it.Unfortunately there is a catch, the little buggers continue to increase
and spread, eventually taking over the human side.Marcus Anderson is a government official who
has played a key part in introducing and implementing a law preventing humans
from becoming more machine than human, and individuals are ‘shut down’ when
they reach the 50/50 level or Halfskin.It is also Marcus’s job to enforce the law – and he loves his job.

As a boy Nix Richards was in a car accident that killed his
parents and nearly killed him.If it
wasn’t for biomites he would be dead.Ten years later at 18 he is dangerously close to halfskin, prompting
the authorities to come for him.

Cali Richards, Nix’s sister, is no stranger to loss, pain and
suffering – first her parents, then her husband.She is not going to lose her brother too and
is determined to keep Nix from being captured and killed by the government…

For me, in a nutshell, this novel was a cat and mouse chase
– or more accurately cat (Marcus) and mice (Cali and Nix).It reminded me of that well known
recurringdream (not a nightmare but
definitely disturbing) about being chased - just when you think you have eluded
your pursuer you look behind only to find he/she is still on your trail. Eventually you wake up in a cold sweat
relieved that it is over. Reading Halfskin evoked those same feelings.There was an unexpected twist, which is
always good.

The novel is both clever and thought-provoking.It certainly got me thinking - in the same
way that one debates about whether Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is actually
about espionage or whether Twilight is actually about vampires.For me Halfskin wasn't so much about humans
at risk of becoming machines but an examination of how intolerant, inflexible
and fearful members of a group in a society can make it their mission to come
down heavy on those who deviate from said group and seek to at best silence and
at worst annihilate them. (It got me thinking about the sign of the times: the
far religious and political right versus the liberal centre-left, about the
fiasco of the recent US presidential election and the UK coalition government).Unlike other novels, this is done with
subtlety - it's not trying to be clever and it's not in your face. Of course
novels can mean different things to different people so not everyone will agree
with my take on this.

I also found myself drawing parallels with Bertauski's
previous novel The Annihilation of Foreverland.Nix's character and experiences were quite similar to Reed's.There is the common theme of a virtual world
- "Foreverland" and "Dreamland" - with a mysterious girl in
both worlds who is important to them but remains in the background.You could say Halfskin is the adult version
of The Annihilation..., which is pitched for the young-adult reader.If you liked one then you'll probably like
the other.

I have also read the first of Tony’s Socket Greeny trilogy
and I must admit I preferred that.All
the same, Halfskin is worth a read and Tony Bertuaski is one to look out for.

Thursday, 14 March 2013

Attention! Well written indie fiction!

A Bed of knives is a story set in Oxford, England about 4 friends who met at college. The story moves between the present (when they are in their mid-twenties) and the past (5 years earlier, when the four are fresh out of college).

There is Gina the business graduate, Rose the fashion designer, Spider the promising chef and Eddie the rising football star. At around 18/19 years old, having just graduated, they come together for a final celebratory night out before Spider leaves for London to start his first position working at a high profile restaurant, and Eddie goes travelling in New Zealand before returning to start his career as a professional football player with the Rangers. Spider is mad about Rose, Rose is mad about Eddie, Gina is mad about spider and Eddie, although shy, likes Rose too. Their night out ends with them all staying the night at Rose’s house where Eddie and Rose finally get it together and Spider and Gina are left abandoned to watch a DVD on the sofa….

Five years on, Eddie is doing very well as a professional football player while Gina and Rose are searching homeless shelters for Spider who is now living rough on the streets of Oxford….

I enjoyed this book so much! It was well written. The characters and situations are so realistic. I was particularly impressed by the way the author, Elizabeth Jasper, was able to get into the head of an 18 year old boy and give us a glimpse of how he REALLY thinks. Nicely done.

This is a sweet story with very likeable characters. I loved finding out what was happening to each of them. I liked the strength and wisdom Gina had but my favourite character was Spider.

Jasper graciously warns people about the swearing and sexual content of the book. I understand why since it may not be suitable for younger teens or those who are sensitive to swearing and sex in books, but for others please don’t let this put you off reading it. It isn’t erotica.

I couldn’t fault this wonderful novel. (I couldn’t work out why it was called A Bed of Knives though and I’m curious to find out.)

Independently published, it is better than many of the conventionally published books I’ve read, and is a prime example of WHY those who are snotty about self-publication are wrong.

I think it would make a great drama for the screen (a TV series or a movie). I have already been recommending A Bed of Knivesto friends.

Saturday, 9 March 2013

This is the last in the Matched series. I enjoyed MATCHED and CROSSED
so I was really looking forward to REACHED.As it turns out, for reasons I will clarify below, this one was the
weakest of the three.

The story is told in 5 parts and from three POVs; that of Cassia, Ky and
Xander. At the end of Crossed, the previous book, all three had joined
the Rising (the rebellion against the ruling ‘Society’). Cassia is sent
to Central, while Ky and Xander are sent to the city of Camas -although neither
are in contact with each other.

Ky has been trained to pilot planes to transport cargo during the coming
rebellion. Xander, who until now had a supporting role in the series,
comes to the forefront and is working for the Rising (undercover) as an
official for the Society. He is a ‘Physic’ but apart from being healthcare
related I could not work out what that was supposed to mean - he spends
his time treating and caring for patients but describes himself as an
administrator, so it’s a bit confusing. He is assigned to work in a
health centre with instructions to await the sign of the rebellion. Cassia
is also working undercover in the Society as a 'sorter' which, if I have understood
correctly, is a type of statistical analyst - she sorts data. She is
stuck in Central, a city far away from Ky and, because of a serious outbreak
which leads to a pandemic, she is unable to get to him, Xander or her
girlfriend Indie.

It took a long time for me to get into this novel. I was about 33% in,
and at the point when I had decided to give it another 100 pages before giving
up, when it got interesting. The interesting parts of the story are told
by Xander and are about the outbreak of a virus referred to as ‘the plague’and
the Rising’s attempts to cure people of it. Unlike in the previous
novels, I would say Xander is very much the hero of this one.

Ky, on the other hand seemed to have undergone a complete personality
change. Classified as an ‘Aberration’ for crimes committed against the
Society by his father, and sent to live in Cassia and Xander’s neighbourhood
with his aunt and uncle, he was forced to live the life of a second-class
citizen in the Society. In previous novels he was the favoured underdog
(at least by me). He was wise, philosophical and forward thinking. In
this book he apparently no longer cares about anything or anyone except
Cassia. When the narrative focuses on him it is mostly him going on about
Cassia. I liked the old Ky but frankly I found the new Ky a
bore.

Although separated, at first Cassia manages to communicate with Ky - as they
trade items for messages with the 'Archivists' (a code word for specialist ‘traders’).Then her loot is stolen and she no longer has
anything of value to trade so she becomes a non-specialist trader for the
archivists.She then sets up a place
called the Gallery where creative people can share and exchange their art.Is this all sounding a bit dull to you? It
was to me and my eyebrows creased quite a lot while I tried to figure out the
point of a lot of the stuff going on. However, to Condie’s credit, they did all
tie back to the central plot – eventually.

So here are my issues:
This book has helped me understand why it is important to use the
italics function sparingly. Condie got carried away with her use of it. A lot
of the time I thought it was unnecessary and found it distracting.

Admittedly, I prefer prose to verse but even I can appreciate that
incorporating poetry in novels can be effective and enjoyable, but,
unlike in the previous novels, the use of poetry was over-the-top and did not
do much for me.

There is a lot of symbolism in it; the Archivists, the Pilot, the Poet,
the Physic, the Otherlands etc etc. Plenty of opportunity for book club
members to discuss what Condie meant by it all (especially the Pilot - at one
point I was shouting 'Okay, enough about the pilot!'). Symbolism is good, but it is very much in your face in this
particular novel. For me it lacked subtlety.

I will be as bold as to suggest that this novel has over-REACHED and is
perhaps overly ambitious about what it wants to be. It is trying too hard
and, in the end, this is what weakened it for me. The previous two novels
focused on just telling the story and were better for it.

Don’t get me wrong: it is not terrible - Xander’s story and the stuff about
the plague is quite interesting and I could not help but be chilled by a
character who is narrating to me while trapped in his own body, or feel sorrow
for a boy who has no choice but to make his living identifying the bodies for
loved-ones in mass graves. I also liked the realistic and complex
portrayal of the relationships between characters - Indie's attraction to
Xander and then to Ky. Ky's attraction to Indie despite being in
love with Cassia, Xander's attraction to Lei while still being in love with
Cassia, Ky and Xander as 'frienemies.' Condie also has a knack for tying
up loose ends. I would however be very surprised if the majority of
people who read REACHEDwould agree that it is a ‘gripping page-turner’
(which is what it claims on the cover of my copy).

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Publication date:25th January 2012Published by: Broad Reach PublishingGenre: Adult Dystopia / Sci-Fi Attention! This novel is outstanding.
Wool was first published as a standalone novella in July
2011 by author Hugh Howey.Howey had
taken the self-publishing route and the story became so popular his fan base
convinced him to write a series. His
collection of self-published novels sold by the hundreds of thousands before he
was offered a book deal with publishers Random House on the strength of the
Wool series.He has also sold the movie
rights to 20th Century Fox and Wool is set to become a movie to be
produced by (none other than) Ridley Scott (director of the first Alien movie and more recently Promethius).

The omnibus edition (books 1-5) is described as the one for
those who arrived late for the party.I
confess I am one of the late-arrivals but, in a way, I am glad since there is a
benefit to reading them back-to-back (see below).

The setting is a futuristic post-apocalyptic society where
humankind has been driven underground.Not
much is revealed about how this has come to be but it is clear that it was
anticipated because preparation was made with the construction of ‘The Silo’, a
structure that extends over 100 levels underground.There is a class structure in the Silo where
people closer to the surface tend to be running the place (political leaders
and law enforcers), those on the middle are the supporting skilled workers (IT
and maintenance) who aspire to be part of the group above them, and those in
the ‘down deep’ (the mechanics) who do the manual labour and keep the mechanisms
for access to essential resources in the Silo operational (such as the supply
of electricity and water).

The people in the Silo have by now lived there for several
generations and, although not particularly oppressed, live under a dictatorship.Their relationships between couples must be
sanctioned and the population is controlled.They are forbidden to speak of the outside and to do so is considered
treason.Breaking the law is punishable
by what is referred to as ‘Cleaning’, where the accused is forced to go outside
and window clean the external surface of the Silo, thus allowing a better view
for those inside. Once you’re sent out you
can’t come back in and are left to perish.

I have deliberately focused on the background and refrained from going into detail about
the actual plot because it is better to go in knowing as little as possible.I can assure you Wool is an intriguing and gripping
story. It incorporates a variety of genres including, crime thriller, mystery
and sci-fi.It is funny in parts and
there is even some romance (just a little). There are so many strong characters
in the book and you can’t help becoming attached to many of them.Unfortunately, being dystopia, I think it is
safe to say not everyone survives and you feel the loss of those who don’t make
it.

My feeling about dystopian novels is that, for them to work
they need to be affecting, thought-provoking and slightly disturbing.Wool manages all of these. The writing is
exceptional and the fiction is incredibly imaginative.I would say Hugh Howey’s greatest skill is
keeping the reader hooked.He is a
master at creating cliff-hangers - hence the benefit of reading the complete
series back-to-back.If I’d had to wait
for each novella to come out I am sure I would have gone crazy!

Some have compared it to the Hunger Games by Suzanne
Collins but I found myself drawing parallels with The Moon Dwellers by David Estes.However, both
these novels are pitched at teenagers and therefore, although both very good in their own
right, are not as grown-up and lack the sophistication of Wool.

So, if you like grown-up dystopian sci-fi and you haven’t
already, my advice is join the party!

At sixteen years old TJ Callahan has been through intensive treatment for
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and is given the all clear by his doctors when, much to his annoyance,
his parents arrange to take the whole family to the Maldives for the
summer.TJ’s illness has meant that he
missed a lot of school and so his parents appoint a private tutor to accompany
them on the trip to prepare TJ for the coming academic year.

When high school teacher Anna Emerson gets the opportunity to spend the summer
in the Maldives, working as a private tutor with a wealthy family, she sees it
as an opportunity to escape her unhappy situation at home.She can see that her long-term relationship with
her boyfriend is rapidly deteriorating and realises they want different
things.

Anna meets TJ at the airport, having (for reasons I won’t go into) arranged
to travel to the island with him several days after the rest of the family have
already left.Delays and problems with
connecting flights lead them to take a small private plane for the final leg of
their journey.As they fly over the
islands – of which there are 1000 – their plane crashes.The pilot dies while Anna and TJ are left
stranded on one of the deserted islands with very few resources, and nothing
but their wits and each other…

It was an eye-opener reading what it would be like to find oneself in
such a situation; with little-to-no survival training or experience.That Anna was a teacher helped as she had a
lot of essential practical knowledge.That
TJ had good common sense also helped - at one point he relies on his memory of watching survival TV shows to work out
how to build a fire and, after several failed attempts, he does.They probably would
not have survived if they were alone.They kept each other alive.I can
see how such a situation could create a strong bond between two people, as it did
for them.

I knew this was a romance and I was slightly uncomfortable about where
the novel would go – TJ is after all just 16 and Anna is in her early 30s when
they first arrive on the island – but I was really impressed by the way
Garvis-Graves had their relationship develop. The attraction was one-sided at
first (a typical teenage boy lusting for a hot older woman, but in his defence he
did his best to conceal it).For Anna it
happens much later – when TJ is no longer a boy – and even then she does not
enter into the relationship with him lightly or without questioning her actions.

There is so much more I could say but I’ll stop here because I don’t
want to give too much away.Basically,
it is a story about survival - not only literally (staying alive on a
desert island against the odds) but also metaphorically (survival of a relationship against the odds).

The novel was so compelling I could not put it down! I can honestly say
it is one of the best romantic stories I have had the pleasure of reading.I have a tendency to try to unravel a plot as
I am reading and can usually guess where it is heading; not the case with this
one. It was full of surprises. Both protagonists are very likeable (in fact, I would say TJ is a loveable character and just the right kind of romantic hero). I tried to find a downside to this book (for
balance) – but I couldn’t.

If you enjoy a good romance my advice is get hold of a copy of this
book because On the Island isn't just a GOOD READ, it is a MUST READ, and one I certainly
will revisit.